festivals and events

raves and reviews

the sweet scoop

the sweet scoop

We can all use a little spring cleaning in the kitchen. And no, I’m not talking about organizing your pantry, but incorporating clean eating as part of a healthy lifestyle.

Nutritional Consultant and Clean Plates founder, Jared Koch, makes it easy with his newly released, The Clean Plates Cookbook, which continues his mission to educate people on how it can drastically pay off to eat cleanly. “Clean eating, as I define it, means eating high-quality real food as often as possible, based on what is right for your body and what stimulates your taste buds.” Jared shares. “In other words: healthy, sustainable, and delicious.”

Hungry to dive in and get cooking? Find out where to grab yourself a copy here or enter my giveaway below for the chance to win a special signed cookbook!

{ ENTER TO WIN }

What does clean eating mean to you? Just comment with your answer below, on Facebook, or tweet me @ThisGirlCanEat. I’ll be picking a winner next week to receive a copy of The Clean Plates Cookbook personally signed by Jared Koch. Wishing you the best of luck & cheers to a clean, mean 2013!

Thursday night, the 5th annual New York City Wine and Food Festival kicked off with two of the weekend’s most anticipated events. And though I would’ve loved to witness food royalty roast Anthony Bourdain, the Italian in me couldn’t bear the thought of missing one of my favorites—Meatball Madness hosted by the lovely Giada De Laurentiis. “This is the best Meatball Madness ever,” Giada exclaimed about the ‘always sold out’ event, which is in its fourth consecutive year.

The large-scale tasting showcased dozens of the city’s best chefs, who rolled out their version of the perfect bite. Hundreds of meatball maniacs packed into SoHo’s 82 Mercer to sample 36 different types of saucy spheres—in styles ranging from traditional Italian polpettewith tomato gravy to pretzel-stuffed Austrian balls and Spanish oxtail albondigas.

Aperol Spritz cocktails, a selection of vino and sparkling San Pellegrino refreshed partygoers, while a display of cake pops from pastry hotshot Johnny Iuzzini provided some sweet relief. Meatball Madnessstarted off the NYCWFF in delicious fashion and everyone seemed to have a ball—while devouring dozens!